Commission Information Collection Activities; FERC-917 & FERC-918; Comment Request; Extension, 51348-51351 [2021-19903]
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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 176 / Wednesday, September 15, 2021 / Notices
Transcripts of the workshop will be
available for a fee from Ace-Federal
Reporters, Inc. (202–347–3700).
For more information about this
workshop, please contact David Borden,
202–502–8734, david.borden@ferc.gov
or Samin Peirovi, 202–502–8080,
samin.peirovi@ferc.gov for technical
questions; Meghan O’Brien, 202–502–
6137, meghan.o’brien@ferc.gov for legal
questions; and Sarah McKinley, 202–
502–8368, sarah.mckinley@ferc.gov for
logistical issues.
Dated: September 9, 2021.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021–19900 Filed 9–14–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
[Docket No. IC21–32–000]
Commission Information Collection
Activities; FERC–917 & FERC–918;
Comment Request; Extension
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, DOE.
ACTION: Notice of information collection
and request for comments.
AGENCY:
In compliance with the
requirements of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission
(Commission or FERC) is soliciting
public comment on the information
collections, FERC–917 (Electric
Transmission Facilities) and FERC–918
(Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public
Utilities), which will be submitted to
the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for a review of the information
collection requirements.
DATES: Comments on the collection of
information are due October 15, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments on
FERC–917 and/or FERC–918) to OMB
through www.reginfo.gov/public/do/
PRAMain. Attention: Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission Desk Officer.
Please identify the OMB Control
Number (1902–0233) in the subject line
of your comments. Comments should be
sent within 30 days of publication of
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/
do/PRAMain.
Please submit copies of your
comments to the Commission. You may
submit copies of your comments
(identified by Docket No. IC21–32–000)
by one of the following methods:
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SUMMARY:
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Electronic filing through https://
www.ferc.gov, is preferred.
• Electronic Filing: Documents must
be filed in acceptable native
applications and print-to-PDF, but not
in scanned or picture format.
• For those unable to file
electronically, comments may be filed
by USPS mail or by hand (including
courier) delivery.
Æ Mail via U.S. Postal Service Only:
Addressed to: Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the
Commission, 888 First Street NE,
Washington, DC 20426.
Æ Hand (including courier) Delivery:
Deliver to: Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue,
Rockville, MD 20852.
Instructions: OMB submissions must
be formatted and filed in accordance
with submission guidelines at
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
Using the search function under the
‘‘Currently Under Review’’ field, select
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission;
click ‘‘submit,’’ and select ‘‘comment’’
to the right of the subject collection.
FERC submissions must be formatted
and filed in accordance with submission
guidelines at: https://www.ferc.gov. For
user assistance, contact FERC Online
Support by email at ferconlinesupport@
ferc.gov, or by phone at: (866) 208–3676
(toll-free).
Docket: Users interested in receiving
automatic notification of activity in this
docket or in viewing/downloading
comments and issuances in this docket
may do so at https://www.ferc.gov/ferconline/overview.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ellen Brown may be reached by email
at DataClearance@FERC.gov, telephone
at (202) 502–8663.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: FERC–917, Electric
Transmission Facilities and FERC–918,
Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public
Utilities.
OMB Control No.: 1902–0233.
Type of Request: Three-year extension
of the FERC–917 and FERC–918
information collection requirements
with no changes to the reporting
requirements.
Type of Respondents: Public utilities
transmission providers.
Abstract: On February 17, 2007, the
Commission issued Order No. 890 1 to
address and remedy opportunities for
undue discrimination under the pro
forma Open Access Transmission Tariff
1 Order No. 890, Preventing Undue
Discrimination and Preference in Transmission
Service, 18 FERC ¶ 31,096 (2007), 72 FR 12,266
(2007).
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(OATT) adopted in 1996 by Order No.
888.2 Through Order No. 890, the
Commission:
1. Adopted pro forma OATT
provisions necessary to keep imbalance
charges closely related to incremental
costs.
2. Increased nondiscriminatory access
to the grid by requiring public utilities,
working through the North American
Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC),
to develop consistent methodologies for
available transfer capability (ATC)
calculation and to publish those
methodologies to increase transparency.
3. Required an open, transparent, and
coordinated transmission planning
process thereby increasing the ability of
customers to access new generating
resources and promote efficient
utilization of transmission.
4. Gave the right to customers to
request from transmission providers,
studies addressing congestion and/or
integration of new resource loads in
areas of the transmission system where
they have encountered transmission
problems due to congestion or where
they believe upgrades and other
investments may be necessary to reduce
congestion and to integrate new
resources.
5. Required both the transmission
provider’s merchant function and
network customers to include a
statement with each application for
network service or to designate a new
network resource that attests, for each
network resource identified, that the
transmission customer owns or has
committed to purchase the designated
network resource and the designated
network resource comports with the
requirements for designated network
resources. The network customer
includes this attestation in the
customer’s comment section of the
request when it confirms the request on
the Open Access Same-Time
Information System (OASIS).
6. Required with regard to capacity
reassignment that: (a) All sales or
assignments of capacity be conducted
through or otherwise posted on the
transmission provider’s OASIS on or
before the date the reassigned service
2 Promoting Wholesale Competition Through
Open Access Non-discriminatory Transmission
Services by Public Utilities; Recovery of Stranded
Costs by Public Utilities and Transmitting Utilities,
Order No. 888, 61 FR 21540 (May 10, 1996), FERC
Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,036 (1996), order on reh’g, Order
No. 888–A, 62 FR 12274 (Mar. 14, 1997), FERC
Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,048 (1997), order on reh’g, Order
No. 888–B, 81 FERC ¶ 61,248 (1997), order on reh’g,
Order No. 888–C, 82 FERC ¶ 61,046 (1998), aff’d in
relevant part sub nom. Transmission Access Policy
Study Group v. FERC, 225 F.3d 667 (D.C. Cir. 2000),
aff’d sub nom. New York v. FERC, 535 U.S. 1
(2002).
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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 176 / Wednesday, September 15, 2021 / Notices
commences; (b) assignees of
transmission capacity execute a service
agreement prior to the date on which
the reassigned service commences; and
(c) transmission providers aggregate and
summarize in an electric quarterly
report the data contained in these
service agreements.
7. Adopted an operational penalties
annual filing that provides information
regarding the penalty revenue the
transmission provider has received and
distributed.
8. Required creditworthiness
information to be included in a
transmission provider’s OATT.
Attachment L must specify the
qualitative and quantitative criteria that
the transmission provider uses to
determine the level of secured and
unsecured credit required.
The Commission required a NERC/
NAESB 3 team to draft and review Order
No. 890 reliability standards and
business practices. The team was to
solicit comment from each utility on
developed standards and practices and
utilities were to implement each, after
Commission approval. Public utilities,
working through NERC, were to revise
reliability standards to require the
exchange of data and coordination
among transmission providers and,
working through NAESB, were to
develop complementary business
practices. Required OASIS postings
included:
1. Explanations for changes in ATC
values;
2. Capacity benefit margin (CBM)
reevaluations and quarterly postings;
3. OASIS metrics and accepted/
denied requests;
4. Planning redispatch offers and
reliability redispatch data;
5. Curtailment data;
6. Planning and system impact
studies;
7. Metrics for system impact studies;
and
8. All rules.
Incorporating the Order No. 890
standards into the Commission’s
regulations benefits wholesale electric
customers by streamlining utility
business practices, transactional
processes, and OASIS procedures, and
by adopting a formal ongoing process
for reviewing and upgrading the
Commission’s OASIS standards and
other electric industry business
practices. These practices and
51349
procedures benefit from the
implementation of generic industry
standards.
The Commission’s Order No. 890
regulations can be found in 18 CFR
35.28 (pro forma tariff requirements),
and 37.6 and 37.7 (OASIS
requirements). 18 CFR 35.28(b) states:
‘‘Audit data must remain available for
download on the OASIS for 90 days,
except ATC/TTC postings that must
remain available for download on the
OASIS for 20 days. The audit data are
to be retained and made available upon
request for download for five years from
the date when they are first posted in
the same electronic form as used when
they originally were posted on the
OASIS.’’
Estimate of Annual Burden: 4 The
Commission estimates the annual public
reporting burden for the information
collections as follows. Please note, the
zeroes for respondents and responses
are based on having no filings of this
type over the past four years. In
addition, we estimate no filings during
the next three years. The requirements
remain in the regulations and are
included as part of OMB Control
Number 1902–0233.
FERC–917 (ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION FACILITIES) AND FERC–918 (STANDARDS FOR BUSINESS PRACTICES AND
COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS FOR PUBLIC UTILITIES)
Number of
respondents
Annual
number of
responses per
respondent
Annual
number of
responses
Average annual burden
hrs. & cost 5 per response
($)
Total average annual
burden hours & total
annual cost 6
($)
Average annual
cost per
respondent
($)
(1)
(2)
(1) * (2) = (3)
(4)
(3) * (4) = (5)
(5) ÷ (1) = (6)
18 CFR 35.28 (FERC–917)
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Conforming tariff changes
(Reporting).
Revision of Imbalance
Charges (Reporting).
ATC revisions (Reporting) ..
Planning (Attachment K)
(Reporting) 7.
Congestion studies (Reporting).
Attestation of network resource commitment (Reporting).
Capacity reassignment (Reporting).
Operational Penalty annual
filing (Record Keeping) 8.
Creditworthiness—include
criteria in the tariff (Reporting) 9.
20
1
20
20 hrs.; $1,460.00 ...............
400 hrs.; $29,200.00 .............
$1,460.00
21
1
21
25 hrs.; $1,825.00 ...............
525 hrs.; $38,325.00 .............
1,825.00
11
162
1
1
11
162
20 hrs.; $1,460.00 ...............
100 hrs., $7,300.00 .............
220 hrs.; $16,060.00 .............
16,200 hrs., $1,182,600.00 ...
1,460.00
7,300.00
162
1
162
300 hrs., $21,900.00 ...........
48,600 hrs., $3,547,800.00 ...
21,900.00
162
1
162
1 hr., $73.00 ........................
162 hrs., $11,826.00 .............
73.00
162
1
162
100 hrs., $7,300.00 .............
16,200 hrs., $1,182,600.00 ...
7,300.00
162
1
162
10 hrs., $358.30 ..................
1,620 hrs., $58,044.60 ..........
358.30
0
0
0
0 ...........................................
0 .............................................
0
FERC–917, Sub-Total
of Record Keeping
Requirements.
........................
........................
............................
..............................................
1,620 hrs., $58,044.60 ..........
............................
FERC–917, Sub-Total
of Reporting Requirements.
........................
........................
............................
..............................................
82,307 hrs., $6,008,411.00 ...
............................
3 NAESB is the North American Energy Standards
Board.
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4 Burden is defined as the total time, effort, or
financial resources expended by persons to
generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or provide
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information to or for a Federal agency. For further
explanation of what is included in the information
collection burden, refer to 5 CFR part 1320.
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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 176 / Wednesday, September 15, 2021 / Notices
FERC–917 (ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION FACILITIES) AND FERC–918 (STANDARDS FOR BUSINESS PRACTICES AND
COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS FOR PUBLIC UTILITIES)—Continued
FERC–917—Sub Total
of Reporting and
Recordkeeping Requirements.
Number of
respondents
Annual
number of
responses per
respondent
Annual
number of
responses
Average annual burden
hrs. & cost 5 per response
($)
Total average annual
burden hours & total
annual cost 6
($)
Average annual
cost per
respondent
($)
(1)
(2)
(1) * (2) = (3)
(4)
(3) * (4) = (5)
(5) ÷ (1) = (6)
........................
........................
............................
..............................................
83,927 hrs., $6,066,455.60 ...
............................
18 CFR 37.6 & 37.7 (FERC–918)
0
0
0
0 ...........................................
0 .............................................
0
0
0
0
0 ...........................................
0 .............................................
0
0
0
0
0 ...........................................
0 .............................................
0
162
1
162
80 hrs., $5,840.00 ...............
12,960 hrs., $946,080.00 ......
5,840.00
162
1
162
100 hrs., $7,300.00 .............
16,200 hrs., $1,182,600.00 ...
7,300.00
162
1
162
20 hrs., $716.60 ..................
3,240 hrs., $116,089.20 ........
716.60
162
1
162
90 hrs., $6,570.00 ...............
14,580 hrs., $1,064,340.00 ...
6,570.00
162
1
162
20 hrs., $716.60 ..................
3,240 hrs., $116,089.20 ........
716.60
162
1
162
1 hr., $73.00 ........................
162 hrs., $11,826.00 .............
73.00
162
1
162
5 hrs., $365.00 ....................
810 hrs., $59,130.00 .............
365.00
162
1
162
100 hrs., $7,300.00 .............
16,200 hrs., $1,182,600.00 ...
7,300.00
162
1
162
5 hrs., $179.15 ....................
810 hrs., $29,022.30 .............
179.15
FERC–918, Sub-Total
of Record Keeping
Requirements.
........................
........................
............................
..............................................
7,290 hrs., $261,200.70 ........
............................
FERC–918 Sub-Total
of Reporting Requirements.
........................
........................
............................
..............................................
60,912 hrs., $4,446,576.00 ...
............................
FERC–918—Sub Total
of Reporting and
Recordkeeping Requirements.
........................
........................
............................
..............................................
68,202 hrs., $4,707,776.70 ...
............................
Total FERC–917 and
FERC–918 (Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements).
........................
........................
............................
..............................................
152,129 hrs., $10,774,232.30
............................
Implementation by each
utility 9 (Reporting) 10.
NERC/NAESB Team to develop 9 (Reporting).
Review and comment by
utility 9 (Reporting).
Mandatory data exchanges
(Reporting).
Explanation of change of
ATC values (Reporting).
Reevaluate CBM and post
quarterly (Record Keeping).
Post OASIS metrics; requests accepted/denied
(Reporting).
Post planning redispatch offers and reliability redispatch data (Record Keeping).
Post curtailment data (Reporting).
Post Planning and System
Impact Studies (Reporting).
Posting of metrics for System Impact Studies (Reporting).
Post all rules to OASIS
(Record Keeping).
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5 The
estimated hourly cost (salary plus benefits)
provided in this section is based on the salary
figures for March 2021 posted by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics for the Utilities sector and benefits
based on BLS report; issued June 17, 2021 Employer
Costs for Employee Compensation Summary
(available at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/
ecec.nr0.htm). The hourly rates are displayed
below:
Legal (Occupation Code: 23–0000): $142.25
Management Analyst (Occupation Code: 13–
1111): $68.39
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Office and Administrative Support (Occupation
Code: 43–000): $44.47
Electrical Engineer (Occupation Code: 17–2071):
$72.15
Information Security Analyst (Occupation Code:
15–1122): $73.57
File Clerk (Occupation Code: 43–4071): $35.83
The skill sets are assumed to contribute equally,
so the hourly cost is an average [($142.25 + $68.39
+ $44.47 + $72.15 + $73.57 + 35.83) ÷ 6 = $72.78].
The figure is rounded to $73.00 per hour.
6 The last renewal of FERC–917/918 (ICR Ref. No.
201802–1902–002) included a $7,400,000 cost for
off-site storage facility for recordkeeping. This cost
was not related to burden hours, rather an annual
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estimate of the fees related to offsite storage. This
cost has been removed as all recordkeeping is
retained electronically per 18 CFR 37.7(b), which
states: ‘‘Audit data must remain available for
download on the OASIS for 90 days, except ATC/
TTC postings that must remain available for
download on the OASIS for 20 days. The audit data
are to be retained and made available upon request
for download for five years from the date when they
are first posted in the same electronic form as used
when they originally were posted on the OASIS.’’
7 The increase in the number of responses from
134 (from OMB’s currently approved inventory for
FERC–917/918) to 162 is based on the increased
number of companies subject to compliance and
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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 176 / Wednesday, September 15, 2021 / Notices
Comments: Comments are invited on:
(1) Whether the collections of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
Commission, including whether the
information will have practical utility;
(2) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate
of the burden and cost of the collections
of information, including the validity of
the methodology and assumptions used;
(3) ways to enhance the quality, utility
and clarity of the information
collections; and (4) ways to minimize
the burden of the collections of
information on those who are to
respond, including the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology.
Dated: September 9, 2021.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021–19903 Filed 9–14–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
[Project No. 5596–020]
Town of Bedford, Virginia; Notice of
Application Accepted for Filing and
Soliciting Motions To Intervene and
Protests
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Take notice that the following
hydroelectric application has been filed
with the Commission and is available
for public inspection.
a. Type of Application: New Major
License.
b. Project No.: 5596–020.
c. Date filed: April 30, 2021.
d. Applicant: Town of Bedford,
Virginia.
e. Name of Project: Bedford
Hydroelectric Project.
f. Location: On the James River in the
town of Bedford in Bedford and
Amherst counties, Virginia. The project
does not affect federal land.
g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power
Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)–825(r).
h. Applicant Contact: M. Scott
Salmon, Electric Systems Engineer,
Town of Bedford Electric Department,
changes in the last few years as identified by the
NERC registry.
8 While we are using the average hourly rate for
the majority of the calculations, all recordkeeping
tasks are solely completed by a file clerk at $35.83/
hour.
9 As noted, the zeroes for respondents and
responses in the table are based on having no filings
of this type over the past four years.
10 ATC-related standards include:
Implementation by each utility (Reporting), NERC/
NAESB Team to develop (Reporting), and Review
and comment by utility (Reporting).
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877 Monroe Street, Bedford, Virginia
24523; (540) 587–6079 or msalmon@
bedfordva.gov.
i. FERC Contact: Andy Bernick at
(202) 502–8660, or andrew.bernick@
ferc.gov.
j. Deadline for filing motions to
intervene and protests: 60 days from the
issuance date of this notice.
The Commission strongly encourages
electronic filing. Please file motions to
intervene and protests using the
Commission’s eFiling system at https://
www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. For
assistance, please contact FERC Online
Support at FERCOnlineSupport@
ferc.gov, (866) 208–3676 (toll free), or
(202) 502–8659 (TTY). In lieu of
electronic filing, you may submit a
paper copy. Submissions sent via the
U.S. Postal Service must be addressed
to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888
First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington,
DC 20426. Submissions sent via any
other carrier must be addressed to:
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225
Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Maryland
20852. All filings must clearly identify
the project name and docket number on
the first page: Bedford Hydroelectric
Project (P–5596–020).
The Commission’s Rules of Practice
require all intervenors filing documents
with the Commission to serve a copy of
that document on each person on the
official service list for the project.
Further, if an intervenor files comments
or documents with the Commission
relating to the merits of an issue that
may affect the responsibilities of a
particular resource agency, they must
also serve a copy of the document on
that resource agency.
k. This application has been accepted
but is not ready for environmental
analysis.
l. The current license for the Bedford
Hydroelectric Project (Bedford Project)
authorizes the following project
facilities: (1) A 9- to 17-foot-high
concrete gravity dam with a 1,680-footlong concrete spillway; (2) a 57-acre
impoundment with a storage capacity of
350 acre-feet at the normal maximum
water surface elevation of 628.0 feet
above mean sea level; (3) a 1,200-footlong, 180-foot-wide, 16-foot-deep power
canal; (4) a power canal headgate
composed of three 21.6-foot-wide, 15.9foot-high steel gates; (5) a 49.1-footwide, 29.02-foot-high steel trashrack
with a clear bar spacing of 3.5-inches;
(6) a 55-foot-long, 80-foot-wide
powerhouse; (7) a 65-foot-long, 120-footwide tailrace; (8) two 2.5-megawatt
(MW) turbine-generator units with a
total capacity of 5.0 MW; (9) a 110-foot-
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51351
long, 2.4-kilovolt (kV) generator lead,
and a 180-foot-long, 4.16-kV generator
lead; (10) two 2.4/22.9-kV, 0.600megavolt-ampere (MVA) three-phase
step-up transformers, and two 4.16/22.9kV, 3.75 MVA three-phase step-up
transformers; (11) a 2,800-foot-long,
33.9-kilovolt primary transmission line;
and (12) appurtenant facilities.
The Town of Bedford’s proposed
project facilities would revise the
project’s electrical infrastructure to
include a 4.0-kilovolt, 120-foot-long
underground transmission line from the
powerhouse to the project substation;
and two 3.75-megavolt-ampere step-up
transformers. In addition, the Town of
Bedford proposes to remove the 2,800foot-long transmission line as it is no
longer the project’s primary
transmission line.
The Bedford Project is operated in
run-of-river mode. The average annual
generation is estimated to be 1,114.75
megawatt-hours.
m. In addition to publishing the full
text of this document in the Federal
Register, the Commission provides all
interested individuals an opportunity to
view and/or print the contents of this
document via the internet through the
Commission’s Home Page
(www.ferc.gov) using the ‘‘eLibrary’’
link. At this time, the Commission has
suspended access to the Commission’s
Public Access Room due to the
proclamation declaring a National
Emergency concerning the Novel
Coronavirus Disease (COVID–19), issued
by the President on March 13, 2020. For
assistance, contact FERC at
FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or call
toll-free, (886) 208–3676 or TTY, (202)
502–8659.
You may also register online at https://
www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/
esubscription.asp to be notified via
email of new filings and issuances
related to this or other pending projects.
For assistance, contact FERC Online
Support.
n. Anyone may submit a protest or a
motion to intervene in accordance with
the requirements of Rules of Practice
and Procedure, 18 CFR 385.210,
385.211, and 385.214. In determining
the appropriate action to take, the
Commission will consider all protests
filed, but only those who file a motion
to intervene in accordance with the
Commission’s Rules may become a
party to the proceeding. Any protests or
motions to intervene must be received
on or before the specified deadline date
for the particular application.
All filings must (1) bear in all capital
letters the title ‘‘PROTEST’’ or
‘‘MOTION TO INTERVENE;’’ (2) set
forth in the heading the name of the
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15SEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 176 (Wednesday, September 15, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51348-51351]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19903]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. IC21-32-000]
Commission Information Collection Activities; FERC-917 & FERC-
918; Comment Request; Extension
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.
ACTION: Notice of information collection and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or
FERC) is soliciting public comment on the information collections,
FERC-917 (Electric Transmission Facilities) and FERC-918 (Standards for
Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities),
which will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
for a review of the information collection requirements.
DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due October 15,
2021.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments on FERC-917 and/or FERC-918) to OMB
through www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Attention: Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. Please identify the OMB Control
Number (1902-0233) in the subject line of your comments. Comments
should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
Please submit copies of your comments to the Commission. You may
submit copies of your comments (identified by Docket No. IC21-32-000)
by one of the following methods:
Electronic filing through https://www.ferc.gov, is preferred.
Electronic Filing: Documents must be filed in acceptable
native applications and print-to-PDF, but not in scanned or picture
format.
For those unable to file electronically, comments may be
filed by USPS mail or by hand (including courier) delivery.
[cir] Mail via U.S. Postal Service Only: Addressed to: Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First
Street NE, Washington, DC 20426.
[cir] Hand (including courier) Delivery: Deliver to: Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, MD 20852.
Instructions: OMB submissions must be formatted and filed in
accordance with submission guidelines at www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Using the search function under the ``Currently Under Review''
field, select Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; click ``submit,''
and select ``comment'' to the right of the subject collection.
FERC submissions must be formatted and filed in accordance with
submission guidelines at: https://www.ferc.gov. For user assistance,
contact FERC Online Support by email at [email protected], or
by phone at: (866) 208-3676 (toll-free).
Docket: Users interested in receiving automatic notification of
activity in this docket or in viewing/downloading comments and
issuances in this docket may do so at https://www.ferc.gov/ferc-online/overview.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Brown may be reached by email at
[email protected], telephone at (202) 502-8663.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: FERC-917, Electric Transmission Facilities and FERC-918,
Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public
Utilities.
OMB Control No.: 1902-0233.
Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-917 and FERC-918
information collection requirements with no changes to the reporting
requirements.
Type of Respondents: Public utilities transmission providers.
Abstract: On February 17, 2007, the Commission issued Order No. 890
\1\ to address and remedy opportunities for undue discrimination under
the pro forma Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT) adopted in 1996 by
Order No. 888.\2\ Through Order No. 890, the Commission:
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\1\ Order No. 890, Preventing Undue Discrimination and
Preference in Transmission Service, 18 FERC ] 31,096 (2007), 72 FR
12,266 (2007).
\2\ Promoting Wholesale Competition Through Open Access Non-
discriminatory Transmission Services by Public Utilities; Recovery
of Stranded Costs by Public Utilities and Transmitting Utilities,
Order No. 888, 61 FR 21540 (May 10, 1996), FERC Stats. & Regs. ]
31,036 (1996), order on reh'g, Order No. 888-A, 62 FR 12274 (Mar.
14, 1997), FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 31,048 (1997), order on reh'g,
Order No. 888-B, 81 FERC ] 61,248 (1997), order on reh'g, Order No.
888-C, 82 FERC ] 61,046 (1998), aff'd in relevant part sub nom.
Transmission Access Policy Study Group v. FERC, 225 F.3d 667 (D.C.
Cir. 2000), aff'd sub nom. New York v. FERC, 535 U.S. 1 (2002).
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1. Adopted pro forma OATT provisions necessary to keep imbalance
charges closely related to incremental costs.
2. Increased nondiscriminatory access to the grid by requiring
public utilities, working through the North American Electric
Reliability Corporation (NERC), to develop consistent methodologies for
available transfer capability (ATC) calculation and to publish those
methodologies to increase transparency.
3. Required an open, transparent, and coordinated transmission
planning process thereby increasing the ability of customers to access
new generating resources and promote efficient utilization of
transmission.
4. Gave the right to customers to request from transmission
providers, studies addressing congestion and/or integration of new
resource loads in areas of the transmission system where they have
encountered transmission problems due to congestion or where they
believe upgrades and other investments may be necessary to reduce
congestion and to integrate new resources.
5. Required both the transmission provider's merchant function and
network customers to include a statement with each application for
network service or to designate a new network resource that attests,
for each network resource identified, that the transmission customer
owns or has committed to purchase the designated network resource and
the designated network resource comports with the requirements for
designated network resources. The network customer includes this
attestation in the customer's comment section of the request when it
confirms the request on the Open Access Same-Time Information System
(OASIS).
6. Required with regard to capacity reassignment that: (a) All
sales or assignments of capacity be conducted through or otherwise
posted on the transmission provider's OASIS on or before the date the
reassigned service
[[Page 51349]]
commences; (b) assignees of transmission capacity execute a service
agreement prior to the date on which the reassigned service commences;
and (c) transmission providers aggregate and summarize in an electric
quarterly report the data contained in these service agreements.
7. Adopted an operational penalties annual filing that provides
information regarding the penalty revenue the transmission provider has
received and distributed.
8. Required creditworthiness information to be included in a
transmission provider's OATT. Attachment L must specify the qualitative
and quantitative criteria that the transmission provider uses to
determine the level of secured and unsecured credit required.
The Commission required a NERC/NAESB \3\ team to draft and review
Order No. 890 reliability standards and business practices. The team
was to solicit comment from each utility on developed standards and
practices and utilities were to implement each, after Commission
approval. Public utilities, working through NERC, were to revise
reliability standards to require the exchange of data and coordination
among transmission providers and, working through NAESB, were to
develop complementary business practices. Required OASIS postings
included:
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\3\ NAESB is the North American Energy Standards Board.
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1. Explanations for changes in ATC values;
2. Capacity benefit margin (CBM) reevaluations and quarterly
postings;
3. OASIS metrics and accepted/denied requests;
4. Planning redispatch offers and reliability redispatch data;
5. Curtailment data;
6. Planning and system impact studies;
7. Metrics for system impact studies; and
8. All rules.
Incorporating the Order No. 890 standards into the Commission's
regulations benefits wholesale electric customers by streamlining
utility business practices, transactional processes, and OASIS
procedures, and by adopting a formal ongoing process for reviewing and
upgrading the Commission's OASIS standards and other electric industry
business practices. These practices and procedures benefit from the
implementation of generic industry standards.
The Commission's Order No. 890 regulations can be found in 18 CFR
35.28 (pro forma tariff requirements), and 37.6 and 37.7 (OASIS
requirements). 18 CFR 35.28(b) states: ``Audit data must remain
available for download on the OASIS for 90 days, except ATC/TTC
postings that must remain available for download on the OASIS for 20
days. The audit data are to be retained and made available upon request
for download for five years from the date when they are first posted in
the same electronic form as used when they originally were posted on
the OASIS.''
Estimate of Annual Burden: \4\ The Commission estimates the annual
public reporting burden for the information collections as follows.
Please note, the zeroes for respondents and responses are based on
having no filings of this type over the past four years. In addition,
we estimate no filings during the next three years. The requirements
remain in the regulations and are included as part of OMB Control
Number 1902-0233.
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\4\ Burden is defined as the total time, effort, or financial
resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or
disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. For
further explanation of what is included in the information
collection burden, refer to 5 CFR part 1320.
FERC-917 (Electric Transmission Facilities) and FERC-918 (Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities)
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Annual number Average annual
Number of of responses Annual number of Average annual burden hrs. & cost \5\ Total average annual burden hours & total cost per
respondents per respondent responses per response ($) annual cost \6\ ($) respondent ($)
(1) (2) (1) * (2) = (3) (4)..................................... (3) * (4) = (5).......................... (5) / (1) = (6)
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18 CFR 35.28 (FERC-917)
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Conforming tariff changes (Reporting).. 20 1 20 20 hrs.; $1,460.00...................... 400 hrs.; $29,200.00..................... $1,460.00
Revision of Imbalance Charges 21 1 21 25 hrs.; $1,825.00...................... 525 hrs.; $38,325.00..................... 1,825.00
(Reporting).
ATC revisions (Reporting).............. 11 1 11 20 hrs.; $1,460.00...................... 220 hrs.; $16,060.00..................... 1,460.00
Planning (Attachment K) (Reporting) \7\ 162 1 162 100 hrs., $7,300.00..................... 16,200 hrs., $1,182,600.00............... 7,300.00
Congestion studies (Reporting)......... 162 1 162 300 hrs., $21,900.00.................... 48,600 hrs., $3,547,800.00............... 21,900.00
Attestation of network resource 162 1 162 1 hr., $73.00........................... 162 hrs., $11,826.00..................... 73.00
commitment (Reporting).
Capacity reassignment (Reporting)...... 162 1 162 100 hrs., $7,300.00..................... 16,200 hrs., $1,182,600.00............... 7,300.00
Operational Penalty annual filing 162 1 162 10 hrs., $358.30........................ 1,620 hrs., $58,044.60................... 358.30
(Record Keeping) \8\.
Creditworthiness--include criteria in 0 0 0 0....................................... 0........................................ 0
the tariff (Reporting) \9\.
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FERC-917, Sub-Total of Record .............. .............. ................ ........................................ 1,620 hrs., $58,044.60................... ................
Keeping Requirements.
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FERC-917, Sub-Total of Reporting .............. .............. ................ ........................................ 82,307 hrs., $6,008,411.00............... ................
Requirements.
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[[Page 51350]]
FERC-917--Sub Total of Reporting .............. .............. ................ ........................................ 83,927 hrs., $6,066,455.60............... ................
and Recordkeeping Requirements.
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18 CFR 37.6 & 37.7 (FERC-918)
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Implementation by each utility \9\ 0 0 0 0....................................... 0........................................ 0
(Reporting) \10\.
NERC/NAESB Team to develop \9\ 0 0 0 0....................................... 0........................................ 0
(Reporting).
Review and comment by utility \9\ 0 0 0 0....................................... 0........................................ 0
(Reporting).
Mandatory data exchanges (Reporting)... 162 1 162 80 hrs., $5,840.00...................... 12,960 hrs., $946,080.00................. 5,840.00
Explanation of change of ATC values 162 1 162 100 hrs., $7,300.00..................... 16,200 hrs., $1,182,600.00............... 7,300.00
(Reporting).
Reevaluate CBM and post quarterly 162 1 162 20 hrs., $716.60........................ 3,240 hrs., $116,089.20.................. 716.60
(Record Keeping).
Post OASIS metrics; requests accepted/ 162 1 162 90 hrs., $6,570.00...................... 14,580 hrs., $1,064,340.00............... 6,570.00
denied (Reporting).
Post planning redispatch offers and 162 1 162 20 hrs., $716.60........................ 3,240 hrs., $116,089.20.................. 716.60
reliability redispatch data (Record
Keeping).
Post curtailment data (Reporting)...... 162 1 162 1 hr., $73.00........................... 162 hrs., $11,826.00..................... 73.00
Post Planning and System Impact Studies 162 1 162 5 hrs., $365.00......................... 810 hrs., $59,130.00..................... 365.00
(Reporting).
Posting of metrics for System Impact 162 1 162 100 hrs., $7,300.00..................... 16,200 hrs., $1,182,600.00............... 7,300.00
Studies (Reporting).
Post all rules to OASIS (Record 162 1 162 5 hrs., $179.15......................... 810 hrs., $29,022.30..................... 179.15
Keeping).
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FERC-918, Sub-Total of Record .............. .............. ................ ........................................ 7,290 hrs., $261,200.70.................. ................
Keeping Requirements.
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FERC-918 Sub-Total of Reporting .............. .............. ................ ........................................ 60,912 hrs., $4,446,576.00............... ................
Requirements.
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FERC-918--Sub Total of Reporting .............. .............. ................ ........................................ 68,202 hrs., $4,707,776.70............... ................
and Recordkeeping Requirements.
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Total FERC-917 and FERC-918 .............. .............. ................ ........................................ 152,129 hrs., $10,774,232.30............. ................
(Reporting and Recordkeeping
Requirements).
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\5\ The estimated hourly cost (salary plus benefits) provided in
this section is based on the salary figures for March 2021 posted by
the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Utilities sector and benefits
based on BLS report; issued June 17, 2021 Employer Costs for
Employee Compensation Summary (available at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm). The hourly rates are displayed below:
Legal (Occupation Code: 23-0000): $142.25
Management Analyst (Occupation Code: 13-1111): $68.39
Office and Administrative Support (Occupation Code: 43-000):
$44.47
Electrical Engineer (Occupation Code: 17-2071): $72.15
Information Security Analyst (Occupation Code: 15-1122): $73.57
File Clerk (Occupation Code: 43-4071): $35.83
The skill sets are assumed to contribute equally, so the hourly
cost is an average [($142.25 + $68.39 + $44.47 + $72.15 + $73.57 +
35.83) / 6 = $72.78]. The figure is rounded to $73.00 per hour.
\6\ The last renewal of FERC-917/918 (ICR Ref. No. 201802-1902-
002) included a $7,400,000 cost for off-site storage facility for
recordkeeping. This cost was not related to burden hours, rather an
annual estimate of the fees related to offsite storage. This cost
has been removed as all recordkeeping is retained electronically per
18 CFR 37.7(b), which states: ``Audit data must remain available for
download on the OASIS for 90 days, except ATC/TTC postings that must
remain available for download on the OASIS for 20 days. The audit
data are to be retained and made available upon request for download
for five years from the date when they are first posted in the same
electronic form as used when they originally were posted on the
OASIS.''
\7\ The increase in the number of responses from 134 (from OMB's
currently approved inventory for FERC-917/918) to 162 is based on
the increased number of companies subject to compliance and changes
in the last few years as identified by the NERC registry.
\8\ While we are using the average hourly rate for the majority
of the calculations, all recordkeeping tasks are solely completed by
a file clerk at $35.83/hour.
\9\ As noted, the zeroes for respondents and responses in the
table are based on having no filings of this type over the past four
years.
\10\ ATC-related standards include: Implementation by each
utility (Reporting), NERC/NAESB Team to develop (Reporting), and
Review and comment by utility (Reporting).
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[[Page 51351]]
Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the collections of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the Commission, including whether the information will have practical
utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden and
cost of the collections of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality,
utility and clarity of the information collections; and (4) ways to
minimize the burden of the collections of information on those who are
to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or
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other forms of information technology.
Dated: September 9, 2021.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021-19903 Filed 9-14-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
